Being Out: National Coming Out Day Youth Report

Description

Being Out: National Coming Out Day Youth Report describes U.S. LGBT youths' experiences of "coming out" and being open about their sexual orientation and gender identity. Based on the responses of 10,000 LGBT-identified youth ages 13 to 17 in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Growing Up LGBT in America survey, the report highlights statistics on whom LGBT youth come out to; differences between out and non-out youth, and reasons youth have chosen not to come out. 61% of participants were out at school, and 56% were out to their immediate family. Youth who are out to their immediate family were more likely to be happy than those who are not (41% vs 33%), and twice as likely to have a trusted adult they could talk to (63% vs 31%). Out youth were slightly more likely to have experienced harassment at school. Among youth who were not out at school, the most common reason was concern that they would be "treated differently or judged" (31%), with 26% saying they did not feel they needed to come out. Another 9% feared bullying if they came out. Among youth not out to their families, 30% said their family was "not accepting" of LGBT people, 19% were scared or unsure about how their family would react, and 16% cited "religious reasons."